After going back to school for strings on Saturday (yesterday), I suddenly heard 92.4 play A-roving by John Rutter, the one SMSS strings played for SYF 2009. It did bring back memories of the months of fun, hard work, frustration, and ultimately, the actual performance. It’s an SYF year again and this time, I’ll be playing for another school. I think I haven’t commented much over here on my CCA yet. The main thing is, it’s quite different from SMSS. I learnt a lot while playing in SMSS, but I also learnt another set of things while playing in ACSI. In SMSS, the main focus was on technical stuff like intonation, rhythm etc. Not that it’s irrelevant now, but over the past year, I’ve also learnt more about musicality and experienced the art of orchestra-playing.

I have quite a few assignments to get done before Chinese New Year, and I hope I can finish as much as possible over this long weekend. Lately, I’ve been hooked on Cafe World and more lately, Cityville. Argh. This is terrible.

O level results were out this week. Jean did rather well, meaning she can choose any JC she wants to go to. So now she’s deciding between some college in Bishan and my school. It’s during this period of time that people can either feel very happy, or very sad. Sometimes, happy, and then sad.

I met Jensen in school today! Finally, after a week, I am convinced of his existence.

Argh… I can almost see a mountain forming before my eyes. World lit essay, TOK presentation, TOK essay, EE and other IAs.

I’ve been busy with church stuff this week, settling beginning-of-year things. I probably haven’t mentioned it yet, but I’ve taken up the role as 团长 again for 2011. I know it’s going to be tough juggling that and school work, but I trust God will guide me along.

Ok I’m off to do some work.

Results were released today and I got 7 points for Chinese. To be honest, I didn’t feel very relieved, overjoyed or thankful after getting the results. But I know I should at least be grateful I have 7 points in my pocket.

There are so many perfect scorers this year, and that’s making feel pressurised already. When I think of all the assessments I’ve yet to tackle, 45 points seems like a very long way off.

Anyway, 38 points to go!

I’m finally back from TF camp. I’m still awake because I took a long nap today after coming home from church.

Thank God the camp went well. I wasn’t in the planning committee at first, but since I attended most of the meetings anyway, I became a part of it. A lot of effort was put into planning this camp and I’m glad it turned out well.

Camps in the past had always been filled with sermons, but this time, it was Bible study-based. So we split into groups for Bible study sessions. It was good because it allowed for more discussion and learning from each other, making lessons easier to absorb.

I got the chance to lead a group for Bible studies during the camp. I was quite panicy at first because even though I spent about 7 months last year learning how to read the Bible and lead Bible studies, I only had one practical experience about a month ago. Furthermore, Bible study was probably the most vital aspect of the camp in terms of a source for spiritual nourishment, so it felt like there was a great amount of responsibility attached. Though it was quite a challenge, I learnt the most from this year’s camp compared to the last 3 years – mostly because I had to make sure my knowledge was somewhat solid so I’d be able to lead my group. I was actually quite happy when I started hearing my group trying to be witty by applying the verses and lessons learnt directly to whatever was happening around them.

I didn’t manage to sleep much during the camp. On the first night, no one could fall asleep. I ended up sleeping around 3am. But I still managed to survive the next day. However, on the second night, I had a load of stuff to do – plan the worship for the next morning, prepare 2 Bible study sessions for the next day as well as the church watch night service which was going to be held in our chalet. That night, Jacky, Guo Feng and I sat downstairs in the living room preparing the Bible studies all the way till 4am. Xiao Jun stayed up and accompanied us downstairs. After a 3-hour nap, it was time to wake up again. That third day was super long. It stretched all the way till the watch night service which lasted till 12.30am, and then we had night games around Changi till about 5am. By the time I went to sleep, it was 7am and I was like a walking zombie. After a 3 hour nap, I had to wake up again.

The camp lasted till Saturday afternoon. From what everyone shared, I’m glad they enjoyed the camp and managed to learn something throughout the 4 days.

To me, this was probably the most memorable camp I’ve had. Not just the camp itself, but the planning behind it with the committee as well. More than 40% of the campers were either P6es or new comers, so in terms of outreach, there was a good improvement.

The watch night service also went rather smoothly, although I was quite worried about the time control so that we’d be able to count down to 2011 in time. We had to make adjustments along the way and my heart rate was probably soaring from 11pm onwards. From the feedback I received so far, I’m glad the service was meaningful to those who came.

The success of the camp and watch night service are not for me or the planning committees to gloat over, but rather for the glory of God.

After the camp, ruiquan’s parents, Guofeng, ruiquan, jasmine, siling, jean and I stayed over in the chalet for one more night because we had to book it for an extra day cus of the public holiday on 1 Jan. We slacked around, chatted, played and went out to Changi Village to buy dinner later at night. We slept at about midnight and woke up early to go to church today.

2010 has really been a memorable year.